Thursday, February 18, 2010

My old friend, former coworker, radio host and fellow blogger Ed Springston has received word that 19th district Metro Councilman and Republican candidate for mayor Hal Heiner has refused to appear on Ed's radio show for a debate with Chris Thieneman. Hal's gang gives flimsy excuses on the refusal and sheepishly accuses Ed of extreme bias. Read all about it HERE.

Shallow Hal's campaign is clearly doomed and is now showing the fear.

An aside: Every time you hear Heiner speak, he brags about creating thousands of jobs in Louisville. He claims, as mayor, that he will bestow his genius upon the unwashed masses in order to continue to create jobs...but the only thing Hal is creating is an illusion. In 1997, Hal "tapped into his life savings", bought some cheap land and developed it using out of town contractors. A few companies moved in and hired some people at a low wage, and BANG! That's Hal's record of "creating jobs". I can tell you about a few more jobs he didn't create in Louisville. His campaign website, www.halformayor.com, was created by The Stoneridge Group, 554 W. Main Street, Tannery Row, Bldg. A - Suite 200, Buford, GA 30518.

UPDATE: Some of these candidates surprised me. It sounded as though a few of them wandered into the room, strolled on stage and got miked by mistake. In case you missed the live broadcast, the archived version can be found by clicking HERE.

Analysis: Tyler Allen has found his voice, formed his message and is pounding it home. Allen is the clear winner here, outclassing the rest of the field by miles. Sharp answers. Passion. Intellect. Has a vision for Louisville and articulated it well. Very impressive. The rest (according to my notes) in no particular order: "Shallow Hal" Heiner erroneously continues to take credit for creating jobs by leasing warehouses to companies who actually do the hiring. Katie King's dad sounded as arrogant as ever because, well, he is smarter than you and way more successful. King also acted as though downtown was some sort of lawless war zone that needed its own police force to control the crime there. Chris Theineman stated Louisville was the most heavily taxed city in the country, said "uh" a thousand times and consistently turned to the shopworn tactic of beating up on Jerry Abramson (who is not in the race, by the way). Shannon White knows how to dress herself as well as other women and thinks Macy's is a small local business. The smartest one, Jackie Green, is an eccentric that can make the race fun just by telling the truth. Burrel Farnsley drinks too much and possibly had a few [dozen] before showing up today wearing shorts. The monotone, utterly unexciting drone that is ice-machine inventor and self-described "entrepreneur" Greg Fischer needs to use the "big boy" voice when he shows up somewhere to campaign. David Tandy failed to menace. Tandy's jobs program is based on Louisville's mayor revamping the Commonwealth of Kentucky's education system, which is impossible.

More to come soon, and thanks for making The Valley Report a part of your day.

- Southwest Louisville Young Professionals is an affiliate of the Southwest Dream Team that links young professionals -- who live in or grew up in -- Southwest Louisville for business and professional networking. Join the facebook group today.

- From The Local Weekly: Riverview Park will be closed beginning February 15th thru July 1st of 2010. This is due to $1.2 million in improvements to the park. A portion of the cost, $300,000, has been provided by a donation from David Jones. Future improvements to the park will include, a boat ramp, a new playground, and a splash park. This is the first phase of a master plan that will add significant new venues and major public spaces in the park. While the master plan will take many years to complete, these improvements will add significant attractions to the park.

- I don't like twitter. I think it is useless and over-hyped, just like CNN's Rick Sanchez. There, I said it.